Again, I mentioned these
issues months ago that I thought this issue was coming and even more was
coming. Just wait and see Veterans - nothing is going to stop this redefining
of what a Veterans is and what the earned benefits are.

Once the VA budget was
rolled under the DOD this had to happen with men like Dr. David Chu at the
pentagon and others like him. In fact, these issues were looked at even before
the change over as to what they were going to do to reduce costs and I would bet
a month worth of my VA disability on it, which might fill up your gas tank at
present.

Now does any Veteran think
that our elected congress did not know what was going on with this move and were
oblivious to the potential conflict of DOD interest and the reasons for
it????????????????? I did
not think so.

They maybe dumb
but they are not “so dumb” as the
saying goes.

Again as part of the rerun
of what I saw at this commission and the innuendos that were being discussed
without being discussed in detail.

1.PTSD
is not permanent and treatable
and there “possibly” should be a time limit on 100% as this creates an incentive
for the Veteran “not to try” gainful
employment.Again, two years max
was mentioned. (See note below)

2.Perhaps
the level of 100% compensation should be looked at as to the
earning capacity of the Veteran.
i.e. the difference between officer and enlisted men potentials. Now in this
area, my assumption was, that the max level would not go up any. Just the delta
of 100% would be reduced as to earning capacity or basically, what I interpreted
as education levels or some such data point as that.
i.e. a 100% would be different $dollar
value for category of Veteran.

3.Another
concern was that concurrent receipt had gone way to far in supporting our
military. They wanted to look at that again and see if indeed it had gone to
far and recommend changes.

4. While
not specifically written down as I can recall, I would have to check the papers
and my notes but I heard some discussions of this new deal where the Disabled
Veterans would not be able to draw both VA disability and Social Security.
Alternatively, if the Veteran was drawing 100% from the VA then the offset of
his social security should then go to the VA. Not in actuality just on paper.
Doing the same thing to non-career disabled Veteran as the career Veterans who
has his retirement offset by his disability. While the limiting factor on the
career veteran is his dollar value at retirement based on rank at retirement -
while our non-career Veteran limiting factor would be whatever the max
disability is at the VA or similar. Then by the same token if the Veteran was
at 50% disability and his social security was higher then he could take the
higher of the two but not both. Now again this was not formally discussed as I
recall but I did hear several scenarios of how this could take place.

Now did I believe that what
the Veteran had worked for all his life could be legally even considered taken
away from him or her? No, I did not
believe that and mentally dismissed it as some VA/DOD pie in sky - way of saving
money. Now I see I was again wrong and misjudged how collaborative and
corrupt our government can be in the realm of the dollar to be given away to
someone who earned it by simply being able to breath and vote legally or
illegally.

Even in this scenario if
implemented, I can see many issues within the anarchy at the VA. No different
than the downward pressure by the VA officials to VA management not to upgrade
our retired military personnel in their disability to
meet the new concurrent receipt rules.
A retired military person at 30% probably has to reach a conclusive 80% before
he is finally moved up to the 50% percent rating in order to qualify for
concurrent receipt. A true conflict of
interest as so many of them are that apply to the documented poor performance of
the VA in order to reap dollar rewards for the executive branch and I
would have say members of congress who could care less about Veterans.

Every time you look at the
VA, you see government monetary rewards for poor performance.
The poorer the performance the better
for the government.(Just a
slight conflict here.)

Now in this new potential
scenario, the same conflict would be
even more so.

A Veteran is at 40%
disability and 100% social security. The new law passes and the Veteran is now
under new rules. At present, his social security is more so he opts to take
that and loses his 40%.

Now over time the 40% as so
many of our diseases do get worse and worse and worse and eventually, he is at
100% or should be.

In this case, the 100% VA
disability is much more than his Social Security as the Veteran was
challenged during his working career.

Any Veteran that believes
that the anarchy at the VA once again would not have downward pressure at the
local VA levels not to advance this
soldiers disability to exceed his social security -
stand up and spit over your left shoulder.

While even this debate as to whether
this is going to happen or not seems to be coming. I would conclude that
if it does the Veterans would once again be subject to a huge large gigantic
conflict of interest that no other segment of our society is subjected to - just
because you wore the uniform.

Now up until four years ago
I was republican in most issues. I then went VPA and decided I needed to be an
independent voter as I found more and more issues of the government, both
parties, screwing the Veterans.

However, let me say this
again repetitive as it is. Unless we get up off our duffs in division and corps
numbers, we are going to lose and big
time.

While I voted for Bush not
because of Bush but only because I thought, he might be the lesser of the evils.

In reality, I think Veterans
will look back on this administration and “republican congress” as the absolute
worst we have ever had in recent times - outside of the “Reagan/Bush manifesto”
to federal agencies not to support the Vietnam Veterans and their children in
our toxic chemical legacy - as they did not want the financial responsibility.

I would be glad to post any comments to
my comments should you have any you would like to put forth.